Thursday, September 4, 2014

The "Glory" of Humayun's Tomb

The use of talismans to ward off evil is not limited to humans alone. All over the world they adorned monuments too

The crowning glory of Humayun’s Tomb, actually the
finial on top of the dome, was uprooted in the devastating storm on May
30, 2014. The lightning conductor attached to it was also destroyed. A new
conductor was installed early last month but the replacement of the
finial is not so easy, says the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

According
to a report, it consisted of a wooden beam and nine copper vessels with
a brass finish. “The finial’s shaft, made of sal wood, has been lost.”
So ASI is trying to source seasoned wood which might take a month to
procure. Among the nine copper parts, two or three were badly damaged.
The Superintending Archaeologist of Delhi Circle, Vasant Swarankar, told
PTI, “Our science branch is working on rebuilding the finial. While
some parts will be completely changed, some will be retained and a whole
new composite structure will be made.”

Records say the 16th Century finial, installed at the
instance of Akbar, who advised his stepmother Haji Begum on the
construction of his father’s tomb, was repaired by the British in 1912.
The Delhi ASI chief said, “The Islamic inscription attached to the
finial stated: ‘Khuda jo hai, wo barkat rakhe, kisi bhi aapda se bachye’
(May God always keep it prosperous, protect it from any calamity).”
This talisman, like the one said to have been given by an Olympian deity
to the city of Troy, was supposed to grant safety to the monument.
Incidentally, when the luck of Troy was stolen by the Greeks, the
Trojans faced one calamity after another and were finally defeated in
the 10-year war, following Paris of Troy’s elopement with Helen.

The
belief in sacred symbols was not limited to the Greeks and Trojans. The
Egyptians, Romans, Jews, Christians and Muslims were also influenced by
it. Even the finial atop the Taj contains an auspicious “kalma”. Some
years ago the 10 finials over the miniature domes of the Delhi Gate of
the Red Fort were found missing. At the time they were made by the same
artisans who had worked on the Taj, their worth was not much but in
present times they are valued at 42,000 dollars each as they are encased
in gold. The finials of the Agra Fort escaped damage during the First
War of Independence of 1857 (as did the ones in the Red Fort) but both
buildings suffered extensively during the Jat and Rohilla raids of the
18th Century.

Coming back to Humayun’s Tomb, the
lightning conductor on it was installed after one was fixed on top of
the Qutub Minar, which had been struck by lightning during the British
era, and also earlier, notably during the reign of Firoz Shah Tughlak
who had the minar extensively repaired.

Haji Begum,
Humayun’s first wife, was a pious woman who went all the way to Makkah
to bring back Arab artisans and mullahs, after performing Haj, to build
the mausoleum and also pray for the repose of the Emperor’s soul. The
“kalas” of the finial was set up after extensive prayers to ward off the
evil eye from a thing of beauty. Its absence may rankle those who
believe in auspicious symbols and also rationalists who may find it hard
to appreciate the symmetry of the dome minus the finial. The sooner it
is re-installed the better.

Believe it or not, one
superstitious resident of the Nizamuddin area thinks an owl or some
other bird of ill-omen sat on the finial and polluted it by its
droppings, which “induced nature to destroy it via a lightning bolt”.
One may laugh that away, though not those who believe in auspicious and
inauspicious happenings. When Bahadur Shah Zafar was arrested at
Humayun’s Tomb, Major Hodson nearly got part of the monument destroyed
to ferret out the rebel sepoys he thought were hiding there. May be the blessed inscription saved it, just like the tawiz
or amulet tied to Sipihr Shikoh’s biceps supposedly protected the
younger son of Dara from being captured at the fateful Battle of
Samugarh 199 years earlier.

Protected Content..DO NOT Steal..

Don't Miss a Post..Get them in your Inbox !

After initiating the subscription by entering the E-Mail Id in the above box, readers are sent a Verification E-Mail to their Id's by which they requested the subscription. Then, they are required to click on the Link received in the Automatic Mail sent on their E-Mail Id. After that ONLY, the subscription process is completed. Thereafter, the readers will get, notification mail whenever a new post is made on this Blog.

After initiating the subscription by entering the E-Mail Id in the above box, readers are sent a Verification E-Mail to their Id's by which they requested the subscription. Then, they are required to click on the Link received in the Automatic Mail sent on their E-Mail Id. After that ONLY, the subscription process is completed. Thereafter, the readers will get, notification mail whenever a new post is made on this Blog.

Contact Form. Your suggestions are valuable for the betterment of this Blog.

Protected Content: All originally researched content, or otherwise, on http://mariam-uz-zamani.blogspot.in/ is created by the website owner, including but not limited to text, design, code, images, photographs and videos are considered to be the Intellectual Property of the website owner, whether copyrighted or not, and are protected by DMCA Protection Services using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Title 17 Chapter 512 (c)(3). Reproduction or re-publication of this content is prohibited without permission.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act: Part of the US Copyright Law. The DMCA addresses penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet and protects content creators by "establishing procedures for proper notification" to OSPs when copyright infringement is identified online. Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act, Title II of the DMCA "adds a new section 512 to the Copyright Act to create four new limitations on liability for copyright infringement by online service providers." These procedures allow content creators or their designated agent to file proper DMCA Takedown notice to the OSP in case infringed material has been detected on their servers.